Medical treatment facilities generate a lot of disposable medical waste, for example sponges, gauze, drapes, bandages etc. and sharps of various types. Such waste is usually contaminated with the blood or body fluids of a patient, which biohazards can possibly expose medical staff or other patients to infectious diseases should they accidentally come into contact with the medical waste. Thus such medical waste requires special handling immediately following its generation and continuing through to its ultimate destruction.
Waste medical sharps may be disposed of separately to non-sharps medical waste into specially constructed containers, which allow ready disposal of a used sharps whilst also preventing hand access into the container. Other types of containers for medical waste more generally (that is for receiving all types of medical waste), are relatively large with large area openings for receiving bulky items (for example drapes or sheets). These types of containers are more suitable for quick disposal of medical waste virtually immediately upon its generation as waste. Thus in addition to being of relatively large size and with a large area opening, such containers ideally are floor positionable and readily manoeuvrable so as to be placeable conveniently near the medical waste generation site, which may for example be a hospital operating theatre.
Also, ideally, the medical waste disposal system should be such as to minimally require hand contact with the containers thereof at least up until the containers, after having been filled with medical waste (filled is defined herein below), are sealed and locked. Handling of the containers prior to them being sealed and locked could potentially expose an individual to the contaminated waste.
The present invention seeks to provide medical waste containment apparatus that is improved compared to prior art apparatus at least in respect of minimising hand contact for setting up and filling a container for the medical waste.
The term “filled”, including “fill” and “filling”, throughout this specification is to be understood as meaning that a container contains some medical waste without the container necessarily being full or filled up with the medical waste.
The above Background discussion is included to explain the context of the present invention. It is not to be taken as an admission that any of the documents or other material referred to was, in Australia, published, known or part of the common general knowledge at the priority date established by this application.
Disclosure of the Invention
According to the present invention there is provided a trolley for a container for medical waste, the container having a receptacle for receiving medical waste and a lid for sealing the receptacle, the lid being pivotable between an open position and a closed position, the lid and receptacle being shaped so that an undersurface portion of the lid is accessible when the lid is in the closed position, the trolley including a retainer for retaining the container on the trolley, and a member having a lid engaging portion, the member being operable so that the lid engaging portion engages the undersurface portion of the lid and pivots the lid from the closed position to the open position, wherein the retainer and member are relatively located such that when the container is installed on the trolley and retained by the retainer, the lid engaging portion is positioned adjacent the undersurface portion of the lid without requiring manual manipulation of the member or lid.
The container is thus easily installed onto the trolley ready for use. The relative location of the retainer and member mean that when the container is installed on the trolley by an operator, no hooking or other manipulation of the member or lid by an individual for the member and lid to engage or be in contact for the member to be able to open the lid is required. This saves the operator time and makes incorrect installation unlikely. Also, as the lid engaging portion engages an undersurface portion of the lid that is accessible when the lid is in the closed position, the member does not interfere with a seal between the lid and receptacle of the container.
The member may be a lever, providing a simple means of operation. The lever, for example, may pivot in a plane with the lid engaging portion extending transverse to the plane. Alternatively, the member may be a rod that pushes the undersurface portion from below. A further alternative may have the lever including a pair of arms locatable on opposing sides of the lid to lift underside portions located on both sides of the lid.
The retainer may be shaped to allow the container to be installed downwards on the trolley, for example it may be a bracket. Further, the lid engaging portion may be positioned to engage an undersurface portion on a side of the lid. These features in combination allow easy installation of the container as the lid engaging portion does not interfere with the container during downwards installation. As an additional feature, the bracket may have a tongue to prevent over-pivoting of the lid.
The member may be operable by a foot pedal for ease of opening the container. The pedal may be biased so that the member allows the lid to return to the closed position (for example due to the weight of the lid). Where the member is a lever, a cable may extend between the foot pedal and the lever to allow operation of the member. Alternatively a linkage may be provided between the pedal and the lever. The linkage may be in the form of push rods and a further lever. These preferred embodiments provides a simple robust operation.
According to another aspect, the present invention provides apparatus for medical waste including: a container having a receptacle for receiving medical waste and a lid for sealing the receptacle, the lid being pivotable between an open position and a closed position, the lid and receptacle being shaped so that an undersurface portion of the lid is accessible when the lid is in the closed position, wherein the container is installed on a trolley as described above.
Conveniently, the receptacle of the container may have a top lip that has a cut away section, and the undersurface portion of the lid may be part of the lid that projects over the cut away section. The lid of the container may be biased closed, for example due to the weight of the lid.
The invention also provides a cart for collecting several filled, locked and sealed recyclable medical waste containers for transfer to a central despatch location within the medical treatment facility and for re-distributing returned sterilised empty recyclable medical waste containers to locations within the medical treatment facility, the cart including a rack having a plurality of generally horizontal rails wherein each rail includes retainers for retaining several of the medical waste containers on the rack, wherein the retainers are such that the several medical waste containers are maintained separated from each other.
The medical waste containers are maintained separated from each other to prevent them rubbing together as they are being transported by the cart which could damage their appearance. Commercially it is desirable that the recyclable containers remain or be kept in as pristine condition as possible. If such containers receive cosmetic damage, they are typically buffed or polished to restore their pristine appearance. Keeping the recyclable medical waste containers separated whilst transporting them largely avoids the need for them to be buffed or polished and thus saves costs.
Preferably the retainers are hooks. They could alternatively be slide-on bars which are receivable within complementary fittings on the recyclable medical waste containers.
The rack of the cart may be removably attached to the cart such that it can be independently utilised to store the recyclable medical waste containers at a convenient location within the medical treatment facility ready for distribution.
For a better understanding of the invention and to show how it may be performed, embodiments thereof will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the particularity of the drawings does not supersede the generality of the definition of the invention provided by the claims.